Birth story, part 1

So... where do I start...? First of all, I will probably have to write this in stages, as my birth story lasts over 6 days (12 if you count ALL the days I spent in hospital).

So our baby girl Tallulah Brenda Lisa came early. Five weeks early. She weighed 2.270 kilo which is a good size for such an early baby and if you look at the last picture taken of me as a preggo, you can see that I looked full term. Picture taken at 33 weeks, when I measured 36 cm. A week later, at 34 weeks, I was measuring 40. Now I look at Tallulah and I see this tiny little thing I wonder what else I had in my belly. I think the answer is water. The minute my waters broke I felt like I'd lost 5 kilos or something. My hands, feet, face went back to normal almost immediately and now, 7 days after delivery, I feel really thin and almost back to normal (but not ready for a picture yet). 

 It all started on Thursday 5th July. 34+2. I was off work because I had a midwife appointment in the morning. All was good, measured 40 and mw said it felt like a good-sized baby. I also got the results from my GTT which showed I did not have gestational diabetes, hurrah. I celebrated with a big fat ice cream on the way home. The rest of the day I did nothing, went to Waitrose, bought lots of food (which I had to bin as I didn't have time to eat it).
That evening, I sat watching Home and Away, when it finished I stood up and a massive gush of warm water just poured out of me... Bill thought I'd spilled a drink and I thought I'd wet myself, but at the same time I knew it wasn't wee.
We phoned the hospital, as I was so early, and they told us to come in straight away. Luckily I'd packed my bags already so off we went. I had to wait in triage for ages, from about 8pm till 1.30 am. Nothing else was happening, no pain, but the dr decided to keep me in as things might happen pretty soon. They decided to give me two shots of steroid injection to help develop the baby's lungs, should it come early. They explained to me that the baby is perfectly fine in there without the water, and that the water can even rebuild itself. There's a risk of infection, so was put on antibiotics.
On the Friday I felt fine, completely normal, apart from being very tired, as I shared a room with three other snoring preggos. I had no earplugs, one flat hospital pillow, no books, no music...  I was seen everyday, and all doctors said the same thing - we won't start you off, it's better if baby stays in there for a few more weeks, and I was hooked up to CTG about three times a day to check baby's heartbeat.
On the Friday night/Saturday I started having a lot of cramps. Braxton hicks I guess, they were quite managable and I went for a few walks around the hospital grounds. Still doctors said the same thing...
On the Sunday I started to feel really ill. Cramps were so bad they gave me gas and air, but they weren't showing up on monitor so they didn't think they were real contractions. I couldn't breath through them, walk them off and they were really painful. Bill stayed all night, and at this stage I am still sharing a room - I was screaming and crying all night, started throwing up, kept wanting to go to the toilet... Around 5 am things had settled a bit, I fell asleep and Bill went home for a couple of hours.
Monday - suddenly I felt a lot better. Doctors decided this wasn't the start of labour, and if things didn't progress I could possibly go home on the Tuesday and wait things out at home. I was desparate to go home at this stage. I wanted my bath, my bed, my TV and I was getting so fed up with this horrible hospital room with lights on all night, snoring women all around me, visitors (including toddlers, wtf?), being interrupted by midwives and their urine samples and beeping blood pressure machines.

Here she is - my gorgeous baby daughter Tallulah. I will continue to write another time. I don't remember all the details, especially not the next stage, so will check with Bill later and continue writing soon...